president obama also praised jeremiah wright, calling him a friend and leader. the obama campaign says the video's release is an attempt by romney supporters to shift the focus away from romney's 47% secret videotape. romney's campaign says they had no involvement in the release. they even go so far as to say, what's the news? i don't know. that's straight from romney's communications director. >> right. you have to wonder, will this be an issue in tonight's debate. the jeremiah wright thing was a racially tinged scandal, led the president to give the speech in philadelphia that was widely hailed, saying, look, race is a complex issue in the country, always has been. we have yet to perfect and come to terms with yet. here we are again. we'll see if this has an impact and whose base it may rile up or not rile up. >> yeah. a lot of people are questioning whether or not it's news. this was a covered speech. but according to some even within the abc family, they said at the time, the campaign only put out prepared remarks in a prepared newspaper, posted only a nine-